The Dinner
Richard Gere, Laura Linney
Directed by Oren Moverman
★★★★½
oren moverman makes
movies (The Messenger, Ram-
part, Time Out of Mind)that
are built to detonate.The Din-
ner,basedonthe2009best-
seller by Dutch author Herman
Koch,isasavagelycomictake
on the violence that simmers
under the facade of civility.
Likethebook,thefilmhasan
unreliable narrator. He’s Paul
Lohman (Steve Coogan), a his-
tory professor whose view of
Americaislacedwithcontempt.
In Paul’s eyes, his older brother
Stan (Richard Gere), a slick, sil-
ver-haired congressman run-
ning for governor, is an “ape”. So
when Stan and his trophy wife,
Katelyn(RebeccaHall),invite
theacademicandhisspouse,
Claire (Laura Linney), to din-
neratarestaurantthat’samon-
umenttochicpomposity,it’s
hard not to share Paul’s disgust.As the foursome sit down for a
long night’s journey of consum-
ing resentment, the stage is set
for verbal fireworks.
Of course, nothing is what
it seems, which is exactly how
Movermanlikesit.Heuses
flashbacks and tonal changes
to make the book speak his lan-
guage.Withoutgivingtoomuch
away,wecansaythatStanhas
askedhisfamilytodinnerfora
reason: A video has just gone
viralshowingahomelessblack
woman burning to death in an
ATMbooth.Stan’sson,Rick
(Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick),
and Paul and Claire’s 16-year-
old boy, Michael (Charlie Plum-
mer), may be involved. Should
theseparentsownuporcover
up?
Thefilmrevealsanestofvi-
pers that Moverman never sees
as less than human. This direc-
tor and these four superlative
actors makeThe Dinneragrip-
ping psychological thriller that
won’tbedoneuntilittakesa
piece out of you.The Emoji Movie
T.J. Miller, Patrick Stewart
Directed by Tony Leondis
★★★canyoubuildawholean-
imated movie about emojis liv-
ing inside the smartphone of a
teennamedAlex(JakeT.Aus-
tin)?It’sastretch.Butdirector
Tony Leondis and co-writers
Eric Siegel and the great Mike
White take smart, satiric licks
at a technology we’re all calling
home. The plot? It spins around
Gene (voiced with twisted mis-chief by T.J. Miller), a Meh emoji
whobreaksthecardinalemoji
rule:Hecan’tbejustonething.
Poop, voiced by Patrick Stewart
in a joke that keeps on giving,
is OK with the shit thing. Gene
wants more. So off he goes with
his BFFs, Hi-5 (James Corden)
and Jailbreak (Anna Faris) to
penetrate Alex’s firewall (kill-
er scene) and get his code re-
writtenbeforehe’sdeleted.You
can’tknockafunridethatin-
siststherearemultitudesinall
ofus.Ormaybeyoucan.But
there’snoemojiforit.By Peter Travers
Movies
88 | Rolling Stone ★★★★★ Classic | ★★★★ Excellent | ★★★ Good | ★★ Fair | ★ Poor October, 2017
Behold the Real Family Feud
Richard Gere
(with Rebecca
Hall) lays down
the law in The
Dinner.